I'd recommend Elite - decent value and fun to open. Contenders is good too, but some boxes have only autographs (and a number of redemptions) and no memorabilia, so if you for sure want a combination of both then I'd go for Elite.

Personally, I found this to be a down year for Upper Deck products.

I actually think the best value these days is in 2010-11 products. I've bought a few boxes of 2010-11 Pinnacle (not 2011-12 Pinnacle - that was not a good product in my mind) lately for about $40 each and more often than not get a better return on investment from each of those than I often do in boxes that cost twice as much now.